The courts so purposely humiliated Congress in the Terri Schiavo case that
some U.S. representatives are finally beginning to talk back. Non-elected
judges have flagrantly abused the legislative and executive functions of
government for so many years that we wonder why a reaction has taken this
long.

With the whole world watching, a mere probate judge in Florida thumbed his
nose at a congressional subpoena and refused to comply. Then the federal
judiciary closed ranks behind him, asserting its independence from and
supremacy over not only an act of Congress, but even over the life of an
innocent and defenseless woman.

Eleventh Circuit Judge Stanley Birch stuck in the knife, asserting that
Congress unconstitutionally "invades the province of the judiciary and
violates the separation of powers principle." We marvel at the chutzpah of a
federal judge charging Congress with violating the separation of powers after
we've endured years of judges legislating from the bench, rewriting our
Constitution, distorting our history, assaulting our morals, saving vicious
criminals from their just punishment, raising taxes and inflicting us with
foreign laws.

When a man's honor is impugned, he can pretend he didn't hear the insult or
he can come out fighting. Congress can't pretend it didn't hear Judge Birch's
insult, so Congress must take action to curb the imperial action of
supremacist judges.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., responded that we saw "a state judge
completely ignore a congressional committee's subpoena and insult its intent"
and "a federal court not only reject, but deride the very law that Congress
passed." House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.,
who has likewise had enough, said, "Terri's will to live should serve as an
inspiration and impetus for action."

Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, spoke for Americans who believe in the
Constitution when he said, "The Congress of the United States for many, many
years has shirked its responsibility to hold the judiciary accountable. No
longer."

Even some Democrats in Congress are dismayed by the arrogance of the
judges. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., observed that "once they get on the bench, they
seem to think the importance of having a relationship with the House and
Senate no longer exists."

But Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., like most liberals who can't achieve their
radical goals legislatively, supports judicial supremacy over Congress, the
president, the Florida governor and legislature. Kennedy even tried to silence
complaints by absurdly suggesting that public criticism incites violence
against judges.

The Constitution expressly limits the power of federal judges to what our
elected representatives give them. After all, what is the point of having
representative government if non-elected and unaccountable judges decide
everything of significance?

Congress and the president should not pass the buck to judges in black
robes and hide behind their skirts when they make outrageous decisions. Here
are some ways Congress can start to restore representative government.

Congress should withdraw jurisdiction from the federal courts over the
Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, and the Defense of Marriage Act.
Two bills to do this (the Akin Bill and the Hostettler Bill) easily passed the
House last fall but were ignored by the Senate, and now it is time to make
them law.

Congress should withdraw jurisdiction over court challenges to the Boy
Scouts of America, a federally chartered organization, which the American
Civil Liberties Union is currently trying to ban from public schools. The ACLU
is seeking activist judges who will rule it a violation of the First Amendment
for the Boy Scouts to pledge allegiance to God and country and commit to
keeping themselves "morally straight."

Congress should repeal the 1976 law that permits activist judges to grant
lavish attorney's fees to the ACLU when it succeeds in banning the Boy Scouts,
the Ten Commandments or a cross that has existed on public property for
decades.

Both Houses of Congress should hold hearings about remedies for supremacist
decisions. Congress should bring defiant judges before the American people to
answer questions about their worst rulings.

Any judge who allows an adulterer with a live-in girlfriend to terminate
the life of his wife should be impeached. Victims of such judges should have
the right to demand a different judge (as is currently granted by Illinois
courts).

Now that judges embrace forcibly starving someone to death, Congress should
use its appropriation power to starve the judicial budget. Let's cut out
judges' perks such as travel to international conferences where they pick up
bad ideas about conforming our laws to foreign opinions and United Nations
treaties.

On April 1, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg criticized congressional
resolutions to curb the out-of-control judges, saying, "It is disquieting that
they have attracted sizable support." She endorsed the practice of consulting
foreign and international law.

But Chief Justice William Rehnquist included this statement in his annual
report without any criticism or comment: "There were several bills introduced
in the last Congress that would limit the jurisdiction of the federal courts
to decide constitutional challenges to certain kinds of government action."

Maybe Rehnquist was reminding Congress of its constitutional powers to
constrain the judiciary.